


Dreaming Not-So-Deeply

by thekumquat



Category: Deadpool (Movieverse)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Found Family, There will be more Russell fic if I have to write it all myself!!!!!, wade and vanessa are gonna be great parents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-15
Updated: 2018-10-15
Packaged: 2019-08-02 02:19:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16296398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thekumquat/pseuds/thekumquat
Summary: Russell has a bad dream, and Wade and Vanessa help him through it, in their own weird little way.





	Dreaming Not-So-Deeply

The neon green of the bedside clock was the only light in the bedroom. It cast a sickly glow over Russell's face, glinting off the thin sheen of sweat that still clung to his forehead. He breathed in and out, as deeply and quietly as he could, willing his heart to stop pounding so hard against his chest.

He didn't know where he was at first. The alarm clock cast strange, fuzzy shadows on a room that didn't look anything like the dormitory in Essex House. It didn't look like the solitary confinement room, either. He didn't dare turn on the light on the bedside table to see why. Someone would notice, and come looking.

...Wade. Wade and Vanessa would notice and come looking. That might not be so bad. But then they'd start asking questions and the last thing Russell wanted to do was talk. All the words were tangled up in a knot in his throat. Even if he could get them out, they weren't words he wanted to say. Nightmares were better left where they were. He'd never get back to sleep now. He never could when he woke up in the middle of the night. Every time he closed his eyes, the nightmare would play itself against his eyelids. There was nothing for it but to wait it out til the sun came up.

A sound touched the edge of his hearing. Something clinked and rattled, metal on porcelain. He heard the sound of the fridge opening and closing.

Someone else was up.

Hurriedly Russell sat up and kicked away the sheets. As quietly as he could, he opened his bedroom door and peered through the crack. Light spilled out from the kitchen door. Wade had been very insistent on an apartment with separated rooms. No open plan anything because "I'm not a suburban housewife named Cheryl". (Naturally Russell and Vanessa had called him Cheryl for the rest of the week, but he got his way in the end.)Russell pushed his bedroom door open all the way and moved silently down the hall. Maybe they wouldn't ask questions if they thought they'd woken him up, and even though the thought of any sort of conversation grated on his nerves, it would be nice to have something to do besides sit in the dark and wait.

Wade stood at the counter, making a sandwich. He was dressed in sweatpants and one of Vanessa's shirts. Other than the occasional clink of silverware, he made no noise at all. It was such an odd scene, so surreal and dreamlike, that Russell wondered if he were still asleep. The cartoon bunny on Wade's shirt had been stretched to ghoulish proportions, and that was definitely the sort of thing that would come hopping down a hallway towards him at 3 in the morning.

Wade looked up. Russell waited for questions, or for Wade to explain why he was up. Instead, Wade waved him over withe knife he was holding. Russell was relatively certain he wasn't in trouble, so he went. He never really seemed to _be_ in trouble with Wade and Vanessa. Three months in and the worst they'd gotten was 'annoyed', even when he'd only mostly-accidentally set a kitchen towel on fire. Wade pushed the loaf of bread towards him, and Russell mechanically began to assemble his own sandwich. They worked in total silence, neither making any noise louder than the rattle of the knife against the side of the mayo jar. When he was done, Wade sat down on the floor, his back against the kitchen cabinets. Russell joined him and took a bite of his sandwich. They chewed in silence.

Movement in the doorway made Russell look up, and he froze when he saw Vanessa. She was bleary-eyed, her hair fluffed up oddly on one side, wearing Wade's shirt, and didn't look angry or surprised, didn't even quirk an eyebrow. With one oversized sleeve, she rubbed at her face. The sigh she let out sounded more tired than emotive, and she wandered over to pour herself a bowl of cereal and sit down at Russell's other side.

In total silence, they ate. It was one of the oddest experiences of Russell's life, eating a turkey sandwich on the floor at 3 am. In contrast, Wade and Vanessa were acting like this was totally normal. Maybe it was, for them. Only Wade's uncharacteristic silence made Russell wary, but as they ate and nothing happened, Russell found himself relaxing. More and more, Russell was starting to suspect -- to let himself hope -- that there was no other shoe that was going to drop. Wade and Vanessa didn't have a dark secret. No one was going to turn on him.The worse thing that would happen to him was they would make him watch  _Singing in the Rain_ three nights in a row again (and  _that_ had only been because Vanessa was sick). This was going to be his life from now on: three fucked up people looking out for each other, however they knew how. 

By the time he finished his sandwich, Russell felt like himself again. He yawned hugely, and it spread to Wade and Vanessa. That seemed to be the signal to turn in. All three of them climbed to their feet and left their dishes on the counter. Still in silence, they made their way back to bed. Pausing outside Russell's room, Vanessa dropped a kiss on his forehead, and Wade ruffled his hair. Russell smacked his hand away, entirely out of habit, and Wade grinned at him.

Russell hesitated in the doorway to his room, watching them head into their own. The lump in his throat suddenly came undone, taking with it the last of the nightmare's tangles.

"'Night," he said. Wade and Vanessa stopped and looked back at him.

"'Night, kiddo," Wade said.

"Don't let the bed bugs bite," Vanessa said with a grin.

"If they do, bite them back," Wade instructed firmly. Vanessa rolled her eyes. When they disappeared into their room, they left the door open just a crack. A promise, and a reminder. Russell smiled to himself, just a little.

When he closed his eyes, there was nothing waiting for him. If he had any dreams, they weren't the kind that stuck.


End file.
